A guide for John Kerry on debt repair
Brace for impact! Sen. John Kerry has been named to the supercommittee that will help decide the financial future of this country. Seeing as Anchors Aweigh Kerry has only a 3 percent rating with Citizens Against Government Waste and an overwhelming propensity for raising taxes earning him a 6 percent rating with the National Taxpayer Unions, I thought that he might need some common sense suggestions.
• Enable liberals to lead by example by letting them pay more taxes. The commonwealth has a check off box on the tax form allowing people the option to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes. The federal government should copy this idea. This option will allow Kerry and his fellow windbags House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Warren Buffett and even the president to put their money where their mouths are.
• Repeal Obama-care. Last week the Congressional Budget Office once again adjusted cost estimates upwards by $50 billion. We can save at a minimum $1.2 trillion by repealing this government health care mandate.
• Eliminate the National Labor Relations Board. The federal government should not be suing private companies that want to open manufacturing plants in the United States.
• Abolish the czar layer of government. Did you know that we have a Stimulus Accountability Czar? I thought Vice President Biden was the watchdog on waste. OK, I’m not sure that is a duplication of service, but surely the Gitmo Closure Czar could be sent a pink slip.
• Preserve the home mortgage deduction. Eliminating this tax deduction would be a death knell for the housing market. Some proposals want to abolish the deduction for homes valued over $500,000. That would be an especially hard-hitting middle tax increase in the northeast and California.
• Institute the line item veto. It might force President Obama to actually make a decision.
• Take back the unspent stimulus funds. This grand expenditure of borrowed tax dollars did not stop unemployment from reaching Obama’s promised ceiling of 8 percent. It is time to recall the money.
• Get our money back from Brazil. Last spring the president announced a $2 billion loan to Brazil for drilling. Talk about a big oil subsidy.
• Reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Loans should be given strictly based on income and credit score. It is outrageous that people who have faithfully paid their mortgages could lose their deduction in order to fund the bailout for deadbeats.
Kerry thought the Big Dig was a bargain, so by that logic, his economic save should mean supersized tax increases for us … and we won’t be able to hide our assets in Rhode Island.